Lava Reflections

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

2011-11-29T15:38:00.002+02:00

In the beginning of the Elder Scrolls V Skyrim you are busy being led to your execution on the back of a wagon. You get off the wagon and a guard calls you and you have to choose your race and what you look like. As you are about to get executed a dragon comes and you then escape. You run away with a storm cloak soldier and eventually escape the village through some tunnels.

Now that you are out of the caves you can do whatever you like. There is a village called Riverwood down the road and you can stay with your stormcloak soldier’s sister or with the blacksmith, the imperial soldiers’ uncle. You can also get supplies from these people.

If you decide to do the main quest you must go to the Jarl of Whiterun and get some missions from him. On the second quest you get from him you have to take down a dragon, but you get some help from the city’s gaurds. Once you kill the dragon you absorb its soul. You then use that soul to learn a shout. You learn the words of a shout on the walls of caves and on rocks.

Once some of your skills increase a few times you can level up. When you level up you have to choose to increase your health, magika or stamina and you get to choose a perk. You can increase your skills by fighting people or by brawling with someone.

You can work in Skyrim also. You can chop wood for the owner of a mill, you can harvest weat for some people and you can mine ore and sell it to people. You can also make money by doing quests. There are quests to be found almost anywhere. You can also talk to the person who runs an inn and get a bounty list from them. In Skyrim you can join organisations. You can join the thieves’ guild in Riften, the dark brotherhood, the college of mages or the companions (a fighter’s guild) In the game you can join either the imperial army or the Stormcloak rebellion. In both factions you have to do quests to get accepted.

You can also cook, make potions, make weapons and armour and enchant items. For cooking you have to find the necessary ingredients to make the food. You have to mix ingredients together to make potions. For smithing, you have to find the ore, ingots, leather or leather strips to make it and you have to have gotten the perk for each type of armour.

You can also buy a house in each city in the game. You have to ask someone in the Jarl’s castle and you have to have done a quest for the jarl. In the wilderness there are many bandits and wild animals that might attack you. You can go into caves and clear them out of any bandits. There are herds of mammoths with giant shepherds that are roaming around too. You can also try and take down a dragon in the wilderness if you are feeling lucky.

Copyright basti 2011

Plants vs. Zombies

2011-10-04T11:10:00.002+02:00

Plants vs. Zombies is a computer game where you have to plant different kinds of plants to kill the oncoming waves of zombies
.
In plants vs. Zombies there are three different game modes. They are adventure, mini games, puzzle and survival. At first you can only play adventure mode, but as you progress you unlock a few mini games and later puzzle mode. You can only play a few of the levels in the mini games and puzzle modes. You can play the other levels once you have completed the adventure mode.

In the Plants vs. Zombies adventure mode you start out on your front lawn of your house on a sunny day. The first plant you can use is a pea shooter. The pea shooter is a basic attacking plant that does low damage. Every few levels you unlock more plants. The next plant you unlock is a sun flower, which is a very important plant because it produces sun, which you need to plant more plants to protect your house. Once the zombies get to your house they get killed by a lawnmower. The lawnmower takes out everything in that row. If the zombies get through that row again they come into your house and eat your brains.

You play a couple of levels in the day, and then the zombies start attacking in the night. You now have to plant different types of mushrooms to protect your house. Mushrooms are nocturnal and can only be planted at night time. No sun falls from the sky at night time and you have sun shrooms to produce suns. They are cheaper than sun flowers, but produce less sun and then they grow and make the normal amount of sun.

After you finish the night time levels the zombies come to your back yard where you have a swimming pool. You can plant day time plants and aquatic plants now. You can plant non aquatic plants on lily pads. The zombies come at you in the water on rubber ducks and other things and they come at you on the land. When a zombie gets to the end of a row in your pool the lawnmower only kills that zombie and not the whole row. You can buy a pool cleaner from Crazy Dave’s shop to knock out the whole row.

After the day time pool level there is a night time pool level. After that they come at you on your roof. Because of the angle of you roof normal plants are not very effective. You have to use plants like the cabbage pult, the corn pult and the melon pult. There are no defences if they eat their way through the plants. You have to buy roof cleaners from Crazy Dave. The zombie boss comes at you on the roof. To beat him block his ice balls with chillies and block his fire balls with ice shrooms. Freeze him in place with ice shrooms so that your plants can attack him.

After that the adventure mode is over. While you are on the roof level Crazy Dave gives you a Zen garden. Grow the flowers and they will give you money.
In Plants vs. Zombies mini game mode there are different special levels. If you win a level you get a diamond. You also get a diamond or some gold coins if you win a puzzle level. In survival mode you have to survive five rounds of zombie in a condition of your choice.

copyright Sebastian Schultz 2011

Mount and Blade: Warband

2011-08-28T19:06:00.001+02:00

Mount and Blade: Warband is a PC game that is fun. When you start a new game you have to choose what your father’s job was, what you did as a young child and what you became as a young adult. Some of the jobs you can choose are a smith, a veteran warrior, a craftsman’s apprentice and a hunter. You can also choose your characters starting attributes, weapon skills, looks and what city you start in.

Mount and Blade: Warband offers you a lot of freedom. After you start a new game you can wonder around and kill bandits, hire new troops for your army from taverns and villages and participate in tournaments that are held in cities. You can upgrade your troops by pressing the upgrade button in the party menu. This can only be done if they have gained enough experience in battles. Once you have a bit of renown you can join a kingdom by asking one of the kingdom’s counts for a job. Sometimes they will give you normal jobs such as hunting down a murderer, but sometimes they will ask you if you want to join their kingdom.

There are a lot of weapons in Mount and Blade: Warband. You can get a bow, a one handed sword, a two handed sword, a lance, a crossbow, a mace, a dagger, an axe, a two handed axe and more. The price of these weapons is determined by how good they are. You can also get armour. You can get a helmet, boots, gloves, chest armour and a shield. The most expensive armours are the best.

There are six kingdoms in Mount and Blade: Warband. There are the Swadians, who have the best knights. There are the Rodoks, who have the best crossbowman and good spearmen for countering cavalry. There are the Saranid Sultinate , who have good archers and knights called mamlukes. There are the Nords, who have the best infantry. There are the Khergit Khanate, who have good horse archers and lancers. There are also the Vagers, who have good archers and knights.

Once you have joined a kingdom by asking one of their lords you can battle against their enemies and help capture castles and cities or you can raid enemy villages for their goods you can sell at a friendly town. Once you have done quite a lot for that kingdom you can ask their king if you can become a vassal. Once you are a vassal you immediately get a village and you get weekly tax payments from that village. Your king can decide to give you further fiefs such as villages or you can go and capture castles and cities and ask the king if you can have them.

In Mount and Blade: Warband you can also start a war with another kingdom without joining another kingdom first. You can start this was by attacking farmers or caravans. You can then start raiding villages. If you want to stop the war you can talk to one of the enemy’s counts and you can pay them to make the war end. Once you capture an enemy castle by yourself you can start a new kingdom and you will be the king.

Besides normal troops you can hire heroes. They can be found in different cities across the whole map. They have attributes and skills just like you. Once they level up you can increase their skills by talking to them in your party menu. This can only be done when you are travelling on the world map. These heroes start out with skills that only that hero is good at. For example, some might be good at training, trade, engineering or surgery.

Cheats: To use cheats in this game you have to activate cheats in the Mount and Blade: Warband launcher window. Here are some cheats that might help you playing Mount and Blade: Warband:
Hold Ctrl and press x while in your inventory to add 1000 gold.
Hold Ctrl and press x while in your party menu and you have selected a unit to give it experience.
Hold Ctrl and press x while looking at your character sheet to give yourself experience.
Hold Ctrl and click on the map to go to that location.
Hold Ctrl and press H to increase your health while you are in a fight.

Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne

2011-08-04T20:47:00.001+02:00

Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne is a strategy game. It is the expansion of Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos. You can play the campaign or you can play random maps. The
You can play as the Night elves, Orc, Undead or the Humans. Each race has its unique set of warriors, archers, spell casters, creatures and heroes. Heroes are powerful units, each with their own abilities and attributes.
There are two campaigns. One of them you have to be the night elves and fight against the Naga. In the other campaign you have to be a beast master hero and have trolls as allies.
The random maps are very fun. You can choose your race and the map you want to play on. Each player starts with a main building and a gold mine. You have to build buildings, recruit soldiers, monsters and spell casters and defeat your enemies.
You can also play scenario maps in Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. You be a hero and fight enemies or play tower defence. You can also play Dota maps if you have them. In Dota maps you have to be a hero of your choice and fight alongside your allies. You have to fight your way to the enemy building and destroy it

Elder scrolls 4: Oblivion PC game

2011-06-10T21:28:00.001+02:00

In the beginning of Oblivion you have to choose you race and gender and what you look like. There are many races to choose from and each one has its own unique abilities. These are the races you can choose from:

Nord
Breton
Imperial
Redgaurd
Wood elf
High elf
Dark elf
Orc
Argonian
Khajit

During the first part of the game while you are getting out of the prison you have to choose your seven major skills. You will have to increase your major skills later in the game to increase your level. You increase your major skills by using a sword a lot of jumping or running ect.

In the game your character is in the province of Crodyl. There are many different cities in the game and lots of people to talk to. There are lots of quests you can get from people and guilds, besides the main quest in the game. There are four guilds that you can join:

The Fighters guild
The Mages guild
The Thieves guild
The Dark brotherhood

In each guild you have to do missions to earn rewards and advancement in your rank within the guild.

There are lots of things you can buy from the merchants within all of the cities. You can buy swords, daggers, axes, maces, shields, armor, staffs, ingredients alchemy equipment and spells. There are spells to damage your enemy’s attributes, to heal yourself and to summon cool creatures to fight for you.

If you commit a crime in the game, like stealing or attacking someone the city guards will run up to you and give you three options: to pay your bounty, go to jail or resist the arrest. If you resist arrest the guards will attack you and kill you, unless you are very powerful or if you have the god mode cheat. If you go to jail, you do not lose any money, but when you get out you might lose a point to some of your attributes. So paying the bounty is the easiest, you may the money and they let you go.

You can pray at alter in the cities chapels to gain effects. You can also mix ingredients to make potions and poisons.

This is a very fun, long game, and is my favourite game I have ever played.

Copyright basti 2011

What are Tornados?

2011-06-10T21:16:00.003+02:00

A tornado is a twisting funnel, a couple hundred meters across, in which wind speeds can reach 350 km/h.
Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world but they are most frequently found in the U.S.A east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and summer. There are about 800 tornadoes every year in the U.S.A, resulting in 80 deaths.
Thunder storms often produce large hail, strong winds and tornadoes. Tornadoes sometimes accompany tropical storms and hurricanes.
A tornado’s diameter can differ between a couple of feet to a mile. A tornado normally travels in a northeasterly distance at speeds of 32 to 64 kilometers per hour and normally covers anywhere between 1 and 160km.

69% of all tornadoes are weak, 29% of all tornadoes are strong and 2% of all tornadoes are violent.
Weak tornadoes result in less than 5% of tornado deaths.
Strong tornadoes result in almost 30% of tornado deaths.
Violent tornadoes result in 70% of tornado deaths.
Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 and 9 p.m. but they can occur anytime of the day or night.

Safety tips: look out for dark, a lot of the time greenish sky.
Look out for wall cloud, large hail and a loud roar.
When the weather looks bad, listen to the radio in case there is a warning.

A weak tornado that forms over warm water is called a waterspout, but sometimes these tornadoes move onto land, get stronger, and cause damage.
People in cars and old and very young people are most at risk from tornadoes.

copyright basti 2011

Further reading and resources:

Asiatic Black Bear Habitat and Movement

2011-06-10T21:03:00.002+02:00

Asiatic black bears like living in moist and dense forests below alpine elevations.
In summer they can be found at heights of 10,000 feet and descend to lower altitudes in the winter.
They hibernate in the winter in the cold areas of their range and don’t in the warm areas of their range where it is constantly warm.
They are found in southern Asia. The western edge of the range used to be Afghanistan, across Pakistan, eastward over northern India and southern China, northeastern China, former eastern Soviet Union, Korea and Japan.
Sometimes they come out of the forests to forage on the plains.
The territory of the Asiatic black bear can vary greatly from around 6.4 or 9.7 square km to about 16.4 or 36.5 square km.
The habitat that Asiatic black bears live in is forests and the bear has short strong claws that it can use for climbing trees, opening mounds and pealing bark to eat.

In the wild, Asiatic black bears forage alone, but during breeding season pairs van be seen gathering and hunting together.
Asiatic black bears are powerful swimmers and their 2 inch long claws make them good tree climbers.
They walk on all four feet, but when they fight they stand on their two back feet and slap their opponents with their claws.
They can have territories from 4 to 8 miles.

copyright basti 2011

Further reading and resources:

more about asiatic bears and other bears

Asiatic Black Bear Diet and Skeleton

2011-06-10T19:48:00.004+02:00

Asiatic black bears are omnivores. They eat insects, small mammals and birds, carrion and fruits.
In autumn they will visit nut producing trees, where they eat nuts from platforms they make in the trees.
They have a long gut for digesting grass. Their barrel shaped body tells us that they have a long intestine. They have a simple intestinal tract.
Their molars are broad and flat. They have 42 teeth. They have all their permanent teeth by the time the bear is two and a half years old.

Asiatic black bears have massive skulls. Their skulls are usually long and they are wide across the forehead with protruding eye brow ridges.
The size, shape, use of teeth and jaw muscles influence the size and shape of the bears head.
They have a large jawbone hinge and their molars are wide and flat.
A bear has a similar arm structure to that of a man and a bird.
A bear has a barrel shaped body.

copyright basti 2011

Further reading and resources:

More information about Asiatic Black Bear

Acid Rain and Acid Rain Effects

2011-06-10T19:28:00.004+02:00

Droplets from clouds are naturally acidic, because the carbon dioxide in air dissolves to form a weak acid. But sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides made from burning fossil fuels form stronger acids. The moisture gets to the ground as acid mist, snow or rain. Acid rain damages forests and acidifies lakes, harming aquatic animals.

Pollutants can be carried by the winds for hundreds of kilometers before they are washed to the ground by rain.

Over the years scientists have noticed that some forests have been growing slower and slower without reason. Trees don’t grow as fast they used to before. Leaves turn brown and fall off when they are meant to be green. This is caused by acid rain.

Acid rain also damages buildings. In Westminster England up to ten million pounds was spent on repairs because of acid rain. There have also been lots of complaints of damage to car paints.

Acid rain also acidifies lakes and damages aquatic life.

It looks, feels, and tastes like clean rain. Acid rain cannot harm people directly. You can even walk in acid rain or swim in an acidic lake and won’t be harmed, but the pollutants that cause acid rain (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) do damage human health.

You have to understand the causes and effects of acid rain to help reduce it.

Cars and trucks are big sources of the pollutants that cause acid rain, so car manufactures are required to decrease the amount of nitrogen oxides and other pollutants released by new cars.
Other ways to reduce acid rain is to:

• Save electricity.
• Use less paper.
• Decrease emissions from mining, smelting and generating electrical power.
• Cut back on products that make CFC’s.
• Drive less.

Copyright Basti 2011

Further reading and resources:

The effects of acid rain on automotive coatings

Stock cars in East London

2010-12-20T10:12:00.004+02:00

My mom, my brother Tony and I went to watch stock car racing in East London at the Summerpride oval track. We paid the entry fee and came in. We then drove to the parking are and then went to sit on the grand stands.

The stock cars on the East London track went very fast, and they were very noisy. When I went to take photos close up near the fence the cars came past and shot pieces of mud up into the air. There were a few crashes, and one of the stock car’s wheels came off.

One of the first races we watched was the beginner’s race. My brother’s favourite car was a blue Ford Escort that always came last.

The V8 Stock cars went very fast and they had to race anti clockwise like in NASCAR. My favourite car was an orange one and it usually came second.

This is a picture I took of stock cars racing in East London:

The Animal Poem

2010-07-13T21:08:00.001+02:00

There once was a dog
Who ate a frog
Who chased a cat up a tree
But then was stung by a bumblebee

The bumblebee was very big
And he lost his way
And mistakenly flew into a pig
that was also very big

The pig was very fat
And he had an owner
That made him wear a hat
To cover all of his fat

The owner looked after all the animals
Even though some were cannibals
And he fed them all
Even though they drove him up the wall

© copyright Basti 2010

Playing the recorder

2010-07-13T21:03:00.003+02:00

Every week my brother and I attend recorder lessons. There are only three recorder players in our school. We are the only boys that play recorder in our school. We play descant recorders, which play quite high notes. We have to practice every week, even in the holidays.

The recorder is fun to play, but not all the time. The ugly part of playing recorder is that you have to practice, which is not fun. Sometimes we have to practice at the same time for a certain piece, which is not nice because you have to play exactly on time together.

Every year we go to the Eisteddfod, which is a place where you play a piece and then a judge gives you a bronze, a silver or a gold sticker on your certificate.

Sometimes we play with the marimba band, and that is fun, although I think the recorder is a good instrument to play.

© copyright Basti 2010

My brother

2010-07-13T20:58:00.002+02:00

My brother is my brother and I am stuck with him for life. My brother is an expert at annoying and irritating you. He is a master of deception and rules the world with an iron fist.

He lives in the same house as me, which is a disadvantage, but he has cool friends that bring us cool computer games, which is the bonus of having a brother.

My brother likes playing on the computer and some of his favourite computer games are Assassins Creed, Pure, and Counter Strike. He likes sweets, chocolate and cheese. He laughs at any thing even the most unfunny things in the world.

My brother is tall for his age, but short compared to the rest of the family. He is thin, but chubby compared to the rest of the family. He has dark blond hair and has blue eyes.

My brother is mean most of the time, but sometimes he is nice and we get along well.

© copyright Basti 2010

If I won a million rand

2010-07-13T20:53:00.002+02:00

If I won a million rand I would buy the moon and build houses and a restaurant there, but I think that would cost quite a bit more.

I would rather fix a horse race and then bet money on a certain horse and then I would have about R30 000 000, and then I would build a super cool jet car that would put all the James Bond cars to shame. It would have machine guns and a rocket engine that would shatter the land speed record. It would be able to fly and it would have ejector seats with parachutes incase of a malfunction. I would then go racing with it and I would always win.

I would also give some money to the SPCA and other charities. I would also give some money to my mom (because she is poor), my dad and the rest of my family.

© copyright Basti 2010

Dogo Mountain

2010-07-13T20:49:00.001+02:00

There was once a mountain called Dogo Mountain where men made of stone lived. Nobody went there because they were scared of the stone men just because they could breathe fire and set themselves alight when they got angry. Even the name of the mountain made people scared because Dogo actually meant “don’t go.”

One gloomy ordinary boring day some humans came to Dogo Mountain. This was a rare occasion. Some guy wearing clothes declared that the stone men must find a different home, because the humans wanted to build houses there. The little man was instantly roasted alive by a stone man.

The next day the king’s army arrived and attacked Dogo Mountain. The stone men hurled fire balls at the enemies and soon they had the upper hand. The stone men battered the king’s army, and when they had almost won, the enemies brought in a secret weapon. It was a giant hose pipe. Without their fire the people of Dogo Mountain couldn’t fight back. The hose pipe extinguished all the fires.

Then all of a sudden a stone man pushed a rock and it rolled down the hill and squashed the hose pipe. After that the stone men and the humans became friends and they all lived happily together.

© copyright Basti 2010

What I want to be

2010-07-13T20:32:00.002+02:00

When I grow up I don’t care what job I get, as long as I get rich because being rich is nice. Being rich means you can buy a lot of stuff.

I might invent something, like a machine that makes gravity go away, but keeps the oxygen. I would use it on a trampoline. And people would fly high in the air when they jump. People would come from all over the world, to jump on my trampoline. Or I might use it to make gravity and oxygen on the moon. I would then have a tour company that takes people on tour on the moon.

Or I might have a boring job like the rest of the world. I would have to sit in an office, do paperwork, plan for the future of the company, and help my clients. I might be a doctor, an architect, or even a lawyer.

© copyright Basti 2010

Being 12 does not mean...

2010-07-13T20:07:00.002+02:00

Being twelve does not mean that I am not potty trained, so do not ask me if I need the toilet before a movie.

It also does not mean that I have to wake up five o’clock some mornings, so do not wake me up so early.

It also does not mean that I am a machine, so mom, please stop making me write blog posts!

Being twelve does not mean that I am finished school. It also does not mean I can watch over eighteen movies, but I am tall enough to.

Being twelve does not mean that I can stay up until one o’clock watching television or playing computer games such as Assassins Creed.

Being twelve does not mean I have a job, so I only get money on my birthday and Christmas.

Being twelve does not mean that I am going to get married to anyone soon.

© coyright Basti 2010

Karate Lessons

2010-07-03T19:38:00.001+02:00

My brother and I go to karate lessons. We started when I was in grade three and he was in grade two and we are already on brown belt.

We learn a lot of cool stuff, but sometimes it is not so fun when you have to go and do free fighting against a guy that’s bigger than you and he knocks you down onto the floor.

We have to drive quite far to get to karate and there is usually a lot of traffic. When we get there we usually warm up and do stretches. After that we usually stand in lines and do punches, kicks and blocks. Some times we have to get a partner and do free fighting. After every couple of months we have grading to try and get to the next belt or stripe. Sometimes we have tournaments and fight against each other for medals.

After karate we go home and eat our supper and then watch a movie or play on the computer and then we have our much needed sleep.

© copyright Basti 2010

Prince of Persia the Two Thrones computer game

2010-07-03T19:30:00.002+02:00

Prince of Persia the Two Thrones is a computer game where you have to be the prince of Persia. You have to go around the city looking for the vizier, an evil man who is taking over the city.

You have to go in buildings, on rooftops and on the ground, fighting enemies with your dagger. You can also do cool acrobatic moves that help you defeat your enemies more easily. Sometimes you have to fight bosses. There is a giant, a chick with a whip and there are these two brothers who I am stuck on because they keep beating me up.

Sometimes you have to control the dark prince who has a spiky whip. You can use this to slash your enemies and to strangle them. You even get to ride chariots in the game. While on chariots you can slash incoming enemies, but if you crash into a wall your chariot breaks and you die.

I think it is an awesome game and it is a lot of fun.

© copyright Basti 2010

Remote controlled model racing cars

2010-07-03T19:24:00.002+02:00

A long time ago my brother, my mom, Tony and I went to see these cars race. These remote controlled cars went extremely fast and they made an irritating sound as they zoomed past me.

The model cars were controlled by people standing in this little tower. They were racing around a track and every now and again the cars would come in for a pit stop to get more fuel. They also had a lot of wipe outs and crashes. We started betting who would take the lead. As soon as my mom bet on a car it crashed and spun out. We had loads of fun!

Gilly, a depressed jack russell dog

2010-07-03T19:18:00.003+02:00

This is Gilly, our once joyful and playful jack russell dog. She would always run up to you and ask you to rub her stomach. She would always try to lick you in the mornings, but not any longer.

She is now our gloomy and depressed little mutt. She always peers over her prison walls wandering if she will ever get out. When we go out or go to school this is where our little dog, Gilly, will lie and sulk. Will she ever be joyful and happy again? I don’t know, but I do know that she will still always peer over her prison walls wondering about the next time she will be allowed out.

(Fiction)

Toy Story 3

2010-07-03T19:11:00.002+02:00

On Monday my auntie took my brother, my cousins and I to see Toy Story 3. We got our popcorn and coke and then went into the movie theater.

The movie was about these toys that did not get played with by their owner anymore. Their owner, Andy, was going to college and was going to put them in the attic, but then they were mistakenly put in the garbage, but they escaped and got donated to Sunny Side daycare. They met loads of toys there and had fun. Woody, a toy cowboy wanted to go back to Andy, so he left.

The other toys found out that Sunny Side was actually filled with mean toys and that they couldn’t get out. The children were not age appropriate for them and they damaged the toys. Woody also found this out and he went back to Sunny Side. He met the other toys and they were in cages. He helped them get out and they all got through the toy guards and they escaped. As they got out they fell into a garbage truck and went to the junkyard. They escaped and went back to Andy hoping he could do something to make them all happy.

© copyright Basti 2010

Killers, the movie

2010-06-29T11:51:00.003+02:00

A few days ago my mom, my brother and Tony went to see the movie Killers. We got our popcorn and slush puppy after standing in a long Q. After that we went inside the movie theater and watched the movie.

The movie Killers was about a guy who was an assassin who worked for the government who married somebody and did not tell her his job. Three years later his old boss wanted him to do a job for him and he said no. After a while he finds out that there is a ten million dollar bounty on his head. Then he and his wife are chased around by killers who were their neighbors and friends.

Near the end of the movie you find out who the person is who sent killers after him. Then with the whole family in the room they make some weird trust circle thing and they’re all friends again.

© copyright Basti 2010

Kettle Spout waterfall in Hogsback

2010-06-29T11:36:00.006+02:00

This is the little waterfall Kettle Spout. I took this picture at Hogsback. So I am very sad to hear that the St Patrick on the Hill church burnt down.

We had to walk all the way up this little path to get to this waterfall. The path was very narrow and it had a mountain on one side and a perilous drop on the other side. We were very high up and if you fell off that little path it would take a lifetime until you hit the bottom. When we got there to see the waterfall it was actually quite thin, but it was high up. So I thought it was quite cool and I took this picture.

© copyright Basti 2010

Our outing to Igoda beach

2010-06-24T21:00:00.006+02:00

On Wednesday we went to Igoda beach. We brought along a board to use as a sand board but it did not work very well. We played on the sand dunes and tried to go on our sand board that just wouldn’t work.

I also took some pictures when we got there, but then gave my mom the camera and went to play with my brother. While I was running down one of the sand dunes I fell and landed on my face and got all dirty.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was jumping in the air off a sand dune and my mom taking pictures of us. After a little while we left the beach and started on the long journey home. While we were going home we took pictures out of the cars window.

Part of the beach at Igoda near East London.

Some of the sand dunes at Igoda.

© copyright Basti 2010

Marmaduke, the movie

2010-06-24T12:26:00.001+02:00

The movie Marmaduke is about a two hundred pound teenage dog named Marmaduke.

At the start of the movie Marmaduke’s owner Phil gets a job in orange county California and the whole family including Marmaduke and their cat move there. Their new house is much bigger than their old one and it has a pool. But they get a funny company car that is very small. Phil’s new job is a marketing job for a company that sells dog food and every day he has to go to a dog park to discuss things with his boss.

Every time Phil goes to the dog park he takes Marmaduke along and Marmaduke makes some new canine friends. But there is also a dog that tries to beat up Marmaduke and later in the movie Marmaduke takes over his position as the alpha dog of the park.

With his new friends, Marmaduke had a party at his house while everybody was away and when they came back the house was in a mess. The family banished Marmaduke to the back yard and Marmaduke ran away. After a while he thought it was not a good idea to run away and he tried to find home. Somehow he managed to find his way into a river, but Phil saved him. Phil was fired for not coming to work.

The next day Phil got his job back because of the things he did to save his dog and Marmaduke was friends again with his old friends that he was previously mean to.

© copyright Basti 2010

The Frog Pond

2010-06-21T18:31:00.002+02:00

Long, long ago, but not too long ago there was a big pond where loads of frogs lived. Every day the baby frogs went and played with their friends and the adult frogs went to go and catch flies and other insects for their family, or they went to work.

One day the pond and the surrounding houses were attacked by a fox. While this was happening Dave, a baby frog was playing with some sticks with his friends. When he saw the big orange fox attacking some frog homes, he immediately went off to go and tell his father. His dad said that Dave must go and ask The Wise One for help. As soon as Dave had gone his father told the frog army.

While the fox was attacking some frogs the frog army arrived. They had bazookas that shot seeds. They fired their bazookas at the ferocious fox. The seeds did nothing to him; they only made him angrier.

By then Dave had arrived at The Wise One’s home. The Wise One was a tortoise. Dave told him what had happened and the tortoise said that he would come and sort the fox out.

The tortoise arrived quite a while later (because tortoises are slow) and he found the fox attacking some homes while the frog army were desperately trying to fend the fox off. The tortoise shouted at the fox in his old, croaky voice and ran (which was like a walk) and hit the fox with his paw. The fox was badly hurt. He said that he would never attack the village again and he ran off.

The fox kept his promise and the frogs at Frog Pond were never harmed again.

© copyright Basti 2010

The archeologist from Argentina

2010-06-18T19:18:00.002+02:00

- a fictional short story

My name is Basti and I am an archeologist from Argentina.

Three days ago the Iraq government tried to blow up Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Fortunately the missile missed and landed just south of the city near an oasis.

My team of explorers and I were at the oasis when the missile landed. The missile made a huge explosion, making all the dust go up into the air.

When the dust finally settled we could see a huge crater. We got onto our quadbikes and drove towards the crater. When we got there we saw the tip of a pyramid in the middle of the crater, and, amazingly, it was not damaged.

Anyway we are now getting funds from a company called Egyptian Discoveries. After getting a permit from the Egyptian government to dig there, we hired some machinery to help us dig up the pyramid. We then immediately flew back to where the pyramid was buried.

We wanted to go into the pyramid and we did not want to wait for it to be dug up. So we got a rocket launcher and blew a hole in the top of the pyramid.

We went over to the pyramid and looked down the hole we had made in the top. It was a long way down. One of our team members stayed on the surface and the rest of us jumped in and opened our parachutes. Unfortunately one of our team members forgot to open his parachute and he hit the bottom like a falling boulder! The rest of us landed safely. Everywhere we looked we could see gold and in the middle of it all was the pharaoh’s coffin.

We took some treasures and artifacts and left the pyramid. Our friend at the top threw down a rope and we climbed up. When we got to the top an Egyptian with a gun was waiting for us. He said that we must put the treasure back. We told him that we had a permit from the government. He did not care. He charged at me. I casually sidestepped him and tripped him. He fell right into the hole in the pyramid.

I felt very happy on my way home until the Egyptian government suddenly thought that they should have the treasure. So we gave Iraq a bigger missile. In less than an hour Cairo was blown up. We were all happy because we had found some gold and an Egyptian pyramid.

© copyright Basti 2010

Mini Mushroom

2010-06-17T17:44:00.002+02:00

I took this picture of a 2cm tall mushroom at Hogsback while we were on a walk. I used my camera’s super-macro setting to take the picture. The mushroom is a little man’s table and it is where he has his coffee every morning. He lives in the log that the mushroom is on and every morning he climbs the little stairs he made and goes onto the roof where his table is, and he has his breakfast and coffee there. After that he goes outside of his house and goes hunting for food and he has to watch out for rats because they might eat him.

© photograph and text copyright Basti 2010

Prince of Persia the Sands of Time

2010-06-17T13:04:00.002+02:00

Yesterday we went and saw the Prince of Persia the Sands of Time movie at the cinema. My brother and I had a green slush puppy and no pop corn.

The movie was about a boy called Dustan who was adopted by the king of Persia. 15 years later Dustan and his brothers were attacking a city and he was not allowed to fight. He then went and got into the city by scaling its wall. He then opened the gate and let the Persian army in. They had captured the city. While in the fight, he found a cool knife.

The king then came to the city and congratulated the princes and the warriors. Dustan then got a big robe from his brother to give to their father. The robe was poisoned and it killed the king. Dustan was then blamed for it and he left the city with the help of the princess of that city. He found out that the knife could turn back time and that his uncle wanted the knife so he could take and use it on this big hour glass and turn time back far enough to kill his brother, the king so he could be king.

Later in the Prince of Persia the Sands of Time movie the uncle gets the knife away from Dustan and the princess while they are trying to destroy it and he took it to the hour glass and pressed the button on the back. Dustan got the knife away from him, but it still turned time back and it took him back to when they had just taken over the city.

Dustan then told everyone about how his uncle had just made up an excuse to attack the city just to get the knife. Watch Prince of Persia the Sands of Time movie to see what happens to the uncle, the knife, and Dustan.

After the movie we went grocery shopping at Pick ‘n Pay.

© copyright Basti 2010

The Jelly King

2010-06-13T16:45:00.002+02:00

I am the jelly king the guy that just chows that wobbly substance called jelly.

I eat all kinds and all flavours of jelly such as pineapple, orange, strawberry and cream soda and none of them can escape me. I am a master at keeping it on my spoon and stopping it from wobbling off.

I dip my spoon into the jelly and I break off a big peace. And after that short journey on my spoon from the bowl where all its wobbly little friends are, the jelly sails into my mouth where it is chomped up a little bit before I swallow it. The jelly then wobbles down my throat until it reaches my stomach where it is broken into smaller pieces and then waits for the next bus that is heading out the rear end.

So at the end of the day, when everyone is gone from the lunch table, I eat the left over jelly because I am the jelly king!

© copyright Basti 2010

I was the kid with the high temperature last night

2010-06-13T11:53:00.002+02:00

Last night I was very, very sick. I had a high temperature, I was coughing and I was very cold.

Just before bedtime my mom gave me all my medicine. She also gave my brother some medicine because he was sick too, but not as sick as I was. My mom told me I had to have a cold shower. It was torture and the water was freezing! After that I was not allowed to wear a jersey even though I was cold. I then went back to bed and my mom put a cold face cloth on my head. She also took my temperature.

Later in the night my mom came back and gave me some medicine and wiped my wrists, ankles, back and stomach with a wet face cloth. She then took my temperature again.

Later in the night my mom came back again and gave me more medicine and took my temperature again and it was normal.

In the morning I did not have a temperature, but I still had a cough.

Here's my mom's story about my high temperature.

© copyright Basti 2010

Sometimes life is a misery

2010-06-11T11:16:00.003+02:00

I woke up this morning to the lovely sound of my brother, Zooty, loudly whispering “Basti are you awake!” Then I rolled over and pretended to be asleep. After a while I got up and went to the dining room where my brother was laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Then we were playing with a granadilla and paw paws and my brother spun it in the air and it landed on my grandmother’s flowers and spilt dirt on to the table. He was then shouted at and my grandmother marched out of the room and went to shower.

I then went down to say good morning to my mom who was still in bed. Then our chaotic little dog named Gilly jumped on to the bed and tried to drown us in her slobber. Then my mom went down to her office to work. As soon as she had gone my brother tried to put me in a leg lock and tried to steal my socks. My mom then shouted at us for making a noise. I then had my pills because I am sick. We then had to go shower but my grandmother was still in there. As soon as she got out my brother went to the toilet.

While my brother was on the toilet my mom said that I had to go and write a blog post. As soon as I closed the door and went to lie on the bed my mom called me back and said that I should write my blog post on the events that had happened this morning. I then went to go shower and I then came to the computer to write this.

© copyright Basti 2010

Our class fridge

2010-06-10T13:19:00.001+02:00

I just cannot wait until our class gets rid of our fridge. Every now and again it makes a noise and then it starts humming. It is like an alien robot whose sole purpose in life is to irritate me.

In the morning when I am writing an exam, doing schoolwork, or even sewing (which I suck at and stabbed myself about ten times with the needle) the fridge makes this irritating sound!

So if our school ever gets rid of it I will not even care what happens to it, although it will probably just make one more of its irritating sounds when it is about to go just to spite me.

And when the fridge is gone I will hunt it down and wreck it so I will never have to hear one of its noises again.

But if we do get rid of it and get a new one I will probably miss those occasional frights that it gives me.

© copyright Basti 2010

School soccer day

2010-06-10T13:13:00.002+02:00

On Friday the school had a soccer day. The intermediate phase leaders divided us into four teams: South Africa, Portugal, Italy and Cameroon. I was in the Italian team.

After first break we all headed down to the field. The first people to play were the foundation phase teams. They only played on half the field. After that it was Italy versus South Africa. I was a defender. Our team was the first to score. But then the ball was kicked in my direction and I accidentally hit the ball with my hand. Then there was a penalty kick and the other team scored.

In the second half we swapped a few of our players. Somebody kicked the ball out and it was the other team’s corner kick. The ball was kicked and somebody hit the ball with their head and scored. Our team had lost.

Next it was Portugal against Cameroon and Portugal won. Then it was the teachers match and the orange team won. After that it was the final match which was South Africa versus Portugal. It was a tie and then it was penalty kicks and South Africa won.

After that it was prize giving and then we went home.

© copyright Basti 2010

What would it be like if the world was a jumping pillow?

2010-06-08T18:00:00.002+02:00

A jumping pillow is like a huge jumping castle, so what if the world was like a jumping pillow. The grass, rocks, roads, concrete floors and the dirt and sand would all be super bouncy. Whenever you step you would bounce a little bit like a kangaroo. When you are driving your car and you hit a speed bump you and your car would bounce, maybe even off the road!

It would also be helpful in some circumstances. For example if someone was drowning at the bottom of a lake or dam they would just have to kick off the bottom and they would shoot to the top. It would also cushion your fall if you fall off your bicycle or anywhere else. It could also help you in sports such as high jump and long jump.

It might sometimes also be bad. For example you might bounce on to a roof and get stuck. You also might jump and then bounce and hit your head on something like a roof or a tree.

© copyright Basti 2010

My first blog post.

2010-06-06T17:03:00.002+02:00

Hello I am Basti and I am a day dreamer, going through life one day at a time.

I enjoy:

All junk food
Computer games
Reading
Photography
Art

I do not enjoy:

People who do not leave comments.(just joking, but it is nice to get comments)
Exams
Chocolate cake
Being irritated by my brother, Zooty.

I hope you enjoy my blog.